Recently the word ‘preternatural’ kept popping into my head.
(We don’t know how or why these things happen, they just do. Our brains are weird and, largely, mysterious, organs.)
You and I have heard or read the word ‘preternatural’ from time to time over the years.
And from the context we have (more or less) worked out what it meant.
It conveyed the notion of something or someone being apart from, or above, or outside of, what we might call natural.
It clearly didn’t imply something spiritual (as the word ‘supernatural’ does)—but it conveyed the notion of being different in some way.
This nagging thought sent me back to my shelf full of dictionaries to finally track down exactly what ‘preternatural’ means and how I should use it (not that I ever have, you understand, but just in case I ever get the urge).
It turns out that ‘preternatural’ came into English around 1580, with the meaning that it still largely has: ‘outside the ordinary course of nature.’
All the dictionaries say something along those lines, but perhaps the Collins Dictionary says it best, when it says: ‘abilities, qualities, or events that are very unusual...’
The ‘-natural’ part of the word is familiar, and the prefix ‘preter-’ came into English from the classical Latin word praeter- meaning ‘above’ or ‘beyond’ or ‘more than.’
So, if we said, ‘Young Toby is preternaturally clever at maths’ we would be saying that he has taken to maths more than most six-year-olds do—that his skill with numbers is ‘above’ or ‘beyond’ or ‘more than’ we would expect from a six-year-old.
So now I have the word comfortably nailed.
For years I vaguely knew what it meant and just accepted it whenever it turned up (without feeling the last inclination to use it myself).
Now, I know exactly what it means—and look out, I might use any day now!
(Pronunciation guide: pree-tuh-NATCH-uh-ruhl)
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BY THE WAY...
If you'd like to see my A-Z list of Aussie slang, you'll find it here in the Australian Geographic website -- A-Z list of Aussie slang. Here’s the link: The A-Z of Aussie slang - Australian Geographic
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